Page 24 of Her Righteous Protector

By the time they stopped in Peshawar, Ezio was unconscious again, so Roger and the Brits as well as the three drivers needed to work to unpack the truck he was in first. Max had let Roger know the situation, so the former Army Ranger would be working his contacts to find medical care, and if necessary he would be figuring out how to get Ezio to a good hospital.

“His breathing is still shallow but his pulse is good,” Kane reported to no one in particular.

Max and Asher had shoved aside four bags as soon as they passed over into Pakistan so that a good amount of air was getting into the cage for Ezio to breathe. The ChemLight that they had activated didn’t give them a good idea of whether his color was looking healthy or pale.

“Do you think it’s a brain bleed?” Max asked again.

Kane shot him a frustrated look.

“Sorry, man.” Max knew better. There wasn’t any way for Kane to really know that, but considering the fact that Ezio had been unconscious for the last two hours, he needed a CT scan, that was for damn sure.

ARRIVED

It was a text from Zed. Their truck came to an abrupt halt. Max heard the sounds of people above them. They had to be unhitching the belts holding in the bags of plaster. At this point they didn’t have to be careful with the bags anymore, they could just toss them on the ground and let them split open—anything to get Ezio out of this damn cage.

Minutes that seemed like hours passed, and Max sighed with relief when he saw the gray polluted sky overhead.

“Hey there. Good to see you.” Roger looked down at them. “How’s our boy Stark?” he asked, referring to Ezio.

“Quit with the pleasantries and get us the hell out of here,” Kane growled. Max watched as Kane lifted Ezio’s eyelids so he could check out his pupils.

“We’ve got a little triage area set up in the house,” Roger said.

“I said—” Kane started.

“They’re hurrying,” Max said as he watched the bags in front of the side panel of the cage rapidly falling off the truck.

“Move back,” Zed cautioned as he opened the cage door. Leo and Zed held out their arms to take Ezio off the truck. Kane jumped off after them. “Where to?” he asked Roger.

“Follow me.” Roger started jogging past a row of boxes that Max thought might be honey bee hives, but he wasn’t sure.

When Kane went to carry Ezio in his arms, Zed shook his head. “I’ve got him. I haven’t been stuck in a cage for twenty hours.”

“You’re right, but I’m going with you.” Kane glowered.

“Wouldn’t have expected anything less,” Zed agreed.

Max watched them all head for a house a little ways in the distance, with a narrow drive that the trucks would not have passed through. He turned his attention to Zed’s truck because he wanted to get the little girls out of the cramped cage as soon as possible. Leo, Ali, the two Brits, and Asher were already working on it.

Max started pulling down sacks of plaster from the right side of the flatbed and smiled when he heard the little girls’ excited laughter.

“Mama, look. I can see sky!” one of the little Nuri girls said.

“Shhhhh, Nazy,” Samira cautioned.

“It’s all right, Samira,” Raiden said. “We’re safe now.”

When the last bag was pulled away and the four occupants of the cage were uncovered, Max couldn’t help but be impressed by Raiden Sato. There his man was, looking calm and relaxed as he held Taja in his lap as he introduced her to Leo.

“And there’s the house where we are going to be spending the night.” He pointed at the house in the distance.

“Will there be a potty inside?” Nazy asked her mom.

“Yes, habeebti,” Max said as he opened up the door of the cage. “There will be a potty, and a bed for you. Won’t that be nice?”

She hugged her bedraggled stuffed cat close, looked at him beneath her long lashes, and nodded. She then turned her head and looked up at her mother. “Who’s that?”

“He’s one of the nice men who are helping us,” she answered.